Kosovo Says Relatives Of IS Fighters Arrive In Pristina On Flight From Syria

Kosovo’s justice minister says several citizens who were related to Islamic extremists fighting in Syria have been returned to the country.

Abelrad Tahiri did not provide information on the women and children, or any others, who landed aboard a plane at the Pristina airport late on April 19 but said more details would be released on April 20.

“The planned operation for the return of some of our citizens from Syria has been completed successfully,” Tahiri said from the airport. He did not say how many had arrived.

Reuters news agency reported that antiterror police were guarding the airport’s cargo building and an airplane carrying the U.S. flag was seen at the airport, although it was not immediately known if the craft had transported the individuals from Syria.

Since 2012, some 400 citizens of Muslim-majority Kosovo have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight on the side of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

More than 70 of them have been killed, while many remain in the region.

In February, Kosovo police said that 44 women and 48 children were still in the Syria conflict zone.

At that time, police said 56 citizens from Kosovo were still believed to be in the region fighting for IS.

Under Kosovo law, any person who participates in foreign wars faces 15 years in prison.

IS captured wide swathes of territory from the Syrian and Iraqi governments in 2014, declaring a so-called "caliphate" on the lands.

U.S.-backed forces helped drive the extremists from both countries, with only a few still holding out in small pockets of captured areas.

Countries in Europe and elsewhere have reported that hundreds of their citizens left to fight for IS and other extremist groups in the Middle East.

Some have been killed, others captured, and still others have attempted to return to their home countries, worrying officials about radicalized groups of returnees.